


You Steal the Air Out of My Lungs

by martianwahtney



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Declarations Of Love, Feelings Realization, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt Lance (Voltron), KEITH IS SO BAD AT FEELINGS, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Mentions of Mario Kart, Mentions of Rainbow Road, Paladins have a game night, Pining Keith (Voltron), Shiro's real tired of this, Somehow even more angst in chapter 2, Sudden Apathy, listen Pidge loves Lance, listen if you can't handle Rainbow Road we can't be friends, this was a 4 am idea that took me three months to start writing, where are Allura and Coran wow that's a good question and the answer is idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 15:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11831910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martianwahtney/pseuds/martianwahtney
Summary: Keith is in love with Lance, this much is true, and it hurts. So when the Paladins save a race of aliens from the Galra, one of them offers to grant Keith one wish. Things don't exactly goes as planned. Keith makes a stupid wish. Lance overhears something about the wish he shouldn't.





	1. I'd Pray for Everything We Lost

“In return for saving me, I will grant you one wish,”  
  
Inexplicably Keith thought of Lance. All blue eyes and smiles. Lance, who was so beautiful and good. Who made Keith smile even when he didn’t want to. Who irritated Keith to no end. Who had somehow wormed his way into Keith’s heart like he fucking belonged there and Keith just sat there and let it happen. All because it was Lance.  
  
There was a deep ache in his chest every time he thought about the boy and it _hurt_. Keith was so, so tired of it.  
  
And Keith who was impulsive and never thought things through opened his mouth to tell the Vathindian exactly what he wanted.  
  
“I wish I didn’t have feelings for Lance!”  
  
Because that was what he wanted, right?  
  
“When you wake, all shall be as wished,” the Vathindian replied.  
  
Keith stared at the faceless alien for just a moment, it was impossible to tell if the Vathindian was fucking with him or not.  
  
“Thank you,”  
  
“You should be on your way, Red Paladin,”  
  
Keith left without a second glance. He reached Red and saw that Blue was sitting next to her, Lance was at his lion’s feet.  
  
“There you are mullet-head!”  
  
Keith ran a hand over his hair.  
  
“Everyone else is already back at the castle,”  
  
“Why’d you stay?” Keith asked, ignoring the way his heart thumped painfully in his chest.  
  
“Drew the short straw, and besides, someone had to make sure your hothead didn’t get in trouble with the Vathindians,” Lance replied with a smile and shrug.  
  
Keith barked out a laugh and rolled his eyes. He tried to ignore the thrill that Lance had stayed behind because he was worried Keith.  
  
“Then let’s get back before you flirt with one and almost cause an intergalactic scandal… again,”  
  
Lance let out an undignified squawk and placed his hand over his heart.  
  
“You _swore_ you wouldn’t bring that up!”  
  
Keith just laughed and climbed into Red. He waited until Blue stood up to take off, Lance followed closely.  
  
When they got back to the castle Shiro had them clean up, get something to eat, and then go to bed. Keith found he couldn’t complain, it had been a long day.  
  
Keith woke up before the rest of paladins, just like he always did. He trained with the Guardians for an hour before he took a shower and headed to the kitchen. To say he was anxious to see Lance was a bit of an understatement. What if the wish didn’t work? What if he still felt something for Lance? Keith shook his head to try and dispel the thoughts.  
  
Then there was Lance. Keith waited for the fluttering in his stomach to start, but it never did. _What the fuck?_ Lance caught sight of Keith and beamed as he gave a small wave of greeting. Keith had to force a smile onto his face in return. Lance turned back to Hunk, seemingly satisfied with Keith’s response.  
  
“It worked,” Keith said to himself.  
  
“Why are you blocking the doorway?”  
  
Pidge shoved him to the side with surprising force. When he failed to retaliate Pidge looked at him, confusion written on their face.  
  
“No witty comeback?”  
  
“I knew it! The mullet has finally impaired his thinking!” Lance called.  
  
Keith ran his hand over his hair.  
  
“This is just how it grows,” he replied.  
  
Keith was so relieved to be rid of the emotions that came with being in love that he didn’t notice how different everything was. He didn’t notice how little he cared about conversing with Lance. He was relieved he didn’t have to worry about saying something stupid and embarrassing himself. He didn’t notice that he forced himself to laugh at some of Lance’s jokes. He was relieved he wasn’t laughing too hard or too long at the jokes. He didn’t notice that he had to continuously remind himself to not actually try to kill Lance when they were sparring. He was relieved he wasn’t going easy on Lance like he used to.  
  
He was too relieved to notice any of it until a mission went very wrong.  
  
“ _Lance is really hurt!_ ” Hunk yelled over the coms.  
  
Keith continued his attack on the sentries, hardly giving Hunk’s words a second thought.  
  
_Lance is really hurt._  
  
Something… something was very wrong. Lance was hurt. He should be worried. Why wasn’t he worried? Lance was his teammate! His friend! He was hurt and Keith couldn’t find it in himself to give a shit.  
  
_I wish I didn’t have feelings for Lance!_  
  
What had he done?  
  
“Keith! We gotta go!” Shiro yelled.  
  
Keith turned and headed back to Red. He could feel Red’s concern in his bones. He reached up and flicked the coms off before he spoke.  
  
“What have I done?”  
  
Red’s emotional response was essentially to tell him that he fucked up big time. She also tried to reassure him that it could be fixed.  
  
“We’re millions of miles from Vathinda, girl, I can’t just ask Allura to wormhole me back,” Keith replied.  
  
Red attempted to comfort him, tried to tell him that he would get a chance to fix this.  
  
It was the first time in a long time Keith didn’t find comfort in Red’s words.  
  
By the time Keith got back to the Castle, Lance was already in a cryopod. Keith stared at him for just a few moments. _I wish I didn’t have feelings for Lance_. How could he have been so careless?  
  
“Keith?”  
  
He turned to see Hunk.  
  
“Hey,” Keith said.  
  
“Coran says he won’t be out for a couple more quintants,”  
  
“What happened?”  
  
“Sentry got him from behind,”  
  
“Oh,” Keith said.  
  
“He was keeping an eye on the door. I was helping Pidge download the data from the bridge. I should have been paying more attention,” Hunk sounded defeated.  
  
Keith stared up at Lance, trying to dredge up some kind of feeling. But there was nothing.  
  
“Wasn’t your fault,” Keith said at last.  
  
He was so tired of having to think and find the right thing to say in regards to Lance. Before he made that asinine wish it came so naturally.  
  
“Feels like it,” Hunk said.  
  
Keith was going to do whatever it took to get back to Vathinda and get the Vathindian to take back the wish.  
  
It took a few quintants for Lance to get out of the cryopod. They were no closer to Vathinda than they had been when he went in.  
  
By some miracle (and a lot of arguing on Keith’s part) the Paladins found themselves doing a recon missions on a planet that was just a varga or two away from Vathinda. Keith couldn’t let the opportunity slip through his fingers.  
  
That night when everyone was sleeping he snuck out of his room and headed for Red’s hanger.  
  
“Hey girl,” he said as he approached.  
  
Her eyes lit up and she opened her mouth. He walked in and sat down. Red was excited for him.  
  
“We need to get to Vathinda as fast as possible,” he said.  
  
It took barely over a varga to reach the planet. Red landed in almost the same place she had that fateful day he wished away his emotions. He climbed out of her and slowly made his way back to the hut-house?- abode that the Vathindian dwelled in.  
  
He stopped at the massive doorway and knocked.  
  
“Red Paladin,” a voice from inside the abode said.  
  
“Why have you returned?”  
  
Keith peered into see the Vathindian. He wasn’t entirely certain it was the same one he had spoken to nearly a month ago, the aliens didn’t actually have faces.  
  
“Can you take the wish back?” he asked.  
  
The Vathindian tipped its head to the side.  
  
“An unusual request,”  
  
“Can you?” Keith pressed.  
  
“I can, whether or not I will is a different matter,”  
  
Something broke in Keith. He felt his knees hit the soft earth of the abode. He didn’t come all this way just to be turned away. He had to try.  
  
“Please,” Keith gasped, he could feel the backs of his eyes stinging.  
  
“Take it back. I was wrong. I don’t want this anymore,” he pleaded.  
  
The Vathindian didn’t move.  
  
“You wished to feel nothing for Lance,” they said at last.  
  
Keith nodded.  
  
“I have given you exactly what you have asked for,”  
  
He hunched over, eyes dropping down to the floor, tears flooding his eyes.  
  
“I was wrong,” he said again, his voice soft.  
  
“I’ll do anything. I just want them back,”  
  
There was a long moment of silence.  
  
“Very well,”  
  
Something washed over Keith, a soft wave of emotions.  
  
“I have returned your feelings for Lance to you,”  
  
Keith pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes.  
  
“Thank you,” his voice was choked with emotions.  
  
He was crying.  
  
“Thank you,” he said again.


	2. Your Hand Forever's All I Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance follows Keith out of the castle and overhears some things he probably shouldn't. Things get tense and Shiro's pretty tired of it.

Lance was attempting to go to sleep when he heard the door to Keith’s bedroom hiss open and close. Lance rolled out of bed and peeked out his door to see the Red Paladin heading in the general directions of the hangers.  
  
“What the…?”  
  
Lance followed him as stealthily as he managed, which was pretty damn stealthy since he was the team’s sharpshooter/sniper thank you very much. He followed Keith till he got to Red’s hanger. Then they both took off.  
  
For a moment Lance thought about waking Shiro. He was the team leader, he should know that Keith went off on his own in the middle of the night.  
  
Or he could let Shiro sleep and go after Keith himself. The lions had that telepathic connection, he could follow Keith in Blue.  
  
Lance nearly ran to Blue’s hanger. She was awake and ready for him.  
  
“Hey there my gorgeous girl,” he said.  
  
“Let’s go follow the mullet-head and see what possessed him to go off by himself in the middle of the night,”  
  
Blue took off. They flew to Vathinda.  
  
“What’s he doing here? Didn’t we liberate them from the Galra like a month ago?” Lance asked.  
  
If Blue knew what was going on she didn’t let him know. She landed near Red.  
  
“Wasn’t this where we were last time?”  
  
He walked out of Blue and managed to follow Keith’s movements using the footprints in the earth. The footprints took him to a Vathindian house. Lance hovered near the doorway and managed a quick peak inside, he pressed back against the outside wall and tried to make sense of what he had seen.  
  
Keith was on his knees in front of a faceless Vathindian. What was going on?  
  
“Very well,” the Vathindian said.  
  
“I have returned your feelings for Lance to you,”  
  
Lance yanked away from the abode. Did Keith hate him so much that he had to get his feelings taken away by an alien?  
  
He didn’t remember the hike back to Blue, nor the trip back to the castle. He just remembered standing in Blue’s hanger, thinking about Keith. How could he have misinterpreted the situation so severely? Keith’s actions toward Lance had seemed a little more forced over the past couple of weeks, but Lance figured it was just Keith being broody. Not because he’d gotten his emotions taken away because of how much he hated Lance.  
  
He could feel Blue in the back of his mind, trying to reassure him that he was loved. Lance knew Blue loved him.  
  
“It’s ok girl, I just… misread the situation,” Lance said.  
  
Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. He was so stupid. Lance shuffled back to his room. He felt heavy. His heart hurt. What if Keith wasn’t the only one who was hiding how they really felt about Lance? What if the others felt the same? What if they all hated him? What if Hunk-?  
  
“Stop,” Lance said aloud.  
  
Those were dangerous thoughts. Besides, Hunk always let people know how he felt about them. Lance would know, at the very least, if Hunk hated him.  
  
Right?  
  
He walked into his bedroom and flopped face down on his bed. He stayed like that until he heard Keith’s doors open and close with a hiss. He pushed himself over so he was lying on his back.  
  
If Keith was so annoyed then Lance would avoid him. He didn’t want to irritate Keith anymore than he already clearly did.  
  
Keith felt odd when he woke up. He was anxious. He wanted to feel things about Lance, but at the same time he didn’t want them.  
  
He went through his usual morning routine, he spent an hour with the castle Guardians, then took a shower, and then it was time for breakfast.  
  
Keith walked into the kitchen. Hunk was at the stove, Pidge was at the table clutching a mug of coffee to their chest like it was their lifeline, Lance was- Lance.  
  
He was sitting on the counter next to where Hunk was making breakfast. Keith wanted to collapse inward on himself. Lance was beautiful. He felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest.  
  
Then Lance looked at him, a thrill shot down Keith’s spine. Lance turned back to Hunk, no smile or wave of greeting. Odd, but maybe he just wasn’t in a good mood.  
  
Over the course of breakfast Keith found his gaze continuously drawn to Lance. He couldn’t seem to help himself. Lance was so beautiful. Keith loved being in love.  
  
But things were different. Keith was quick to notice that this time around. Lance was avoiding him. When Keith walked into a room Lance would go quiet or he would just leave. If they ever sparred it was tense.  
  
Keith couldn’t figure it out. They hadn’t gotten in a fight, Keith hadn’t made some dumb remark in passing that offended Lance. It just didn’t make sense.  
  
Unless- unless Lance figured out that Keith was in love with him. The thought made him fumble in the middle of training, the Guardian came at him with no remorse. It was blasted off its feet by something behind Keith. He turned to see Lance with his gun in his hands.  
  
“Thanks,” Keith rasped.  
  
“Don’t get distracted,” Shiro called.  
  
Lance dropped his stance, the gun transforming back into his bayard. Keith turned his attention back to the training sequence.  
  
He couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day. Lance knew. Lance knew and clearly didn’t feel the same, or he wouldn’t be avoiding Keith like he was. That was fine. Keith could get over his feelings, it was just a matter of time.  
  
Lance continued to avoid Keith, Keith acted politely distant to Lance. It should have been fine.  
  
The problem, of course, was Voltron. Keith didn’t was the psychic connection to reveal his feelings for Lance, he didn’t want the other Paladins to know, and he didn’t want to make Lance uncomfortable.  
  
Lance knew it was his fault that they couldn’t form Voltron. He didn’t want to accidentally feel how much Keith didn’t like him. He hated that it affected their ability to form Voltron. He couldn’t stop worrying about what would happen if the team found out. What if they thought Lance had done something to piss Keith off and sided with Keith? What if it caused a rift in the team? What if they replaced him?  
  
“You’re spiraling,” Lance said to himself.  
  
He draped his arm over his eyes and sighed. He was being ridiculous. He knew he was. Keith was the _only_ one who was acting weird.  
  
“Yo Lance!” Pidge yelled as they ran into his room.  
  
Lance pushed himself up on his elbows and smiled at them.  
  
“What’s up Pidgeotto?”  
  
“Excuse you it’s Pidgeot,” they replied.  
  
“Not till you’re 18,”  
  
“Fine- whatever, look I’m bored. Wanna play some video games?”  
  
Lance leapt out of bed.  
  
“Is that a quiznacking joke?”  
  
Pidge beamed up at him and the two headed to the Paladin-sanctioned media room and played an alien version of Mario Kart (complete with a devastating version of Rainbow Road). It didn’t take too long for Hunk to find them.  
  
“Jeez, Pidge, did you upgrade Rainbow Road again?” Hunk asked, his face scrunched in concentration.  
  
“Absolutely,” Pidge replied.  
  
“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” Hunk asked.  
  
“It’s a game, Hunk, just because you suck-”  
  
Hunk’s character in the game slammed into Pidge’s, causing them both to fall off the track and into deep space. Lance snickered.  
  
“Oooooh this means war,” Pidge muttered.  
  
Pidge and Hunk spent the next two races annihilating each other, which made Lance the victor. Upon that realization, they began to team up against Lance after that.  
  
“Can’t believe I’ve been betrayed like this!” Lance cried.  
  
Pidge snorted.  
  
“Oh hey Keith! You wanna play? We can do teams!” they called.  
  
Lance looked up quickly to see Keith standing a little awkwardly at the doorway.  
  
“He can have my controller,” Lance said.  
  
“You sure, Lance? We have four controllers!” Hunk said.  
  
“Thanks Hunky but I need to start getting ready for bed, I gotta work to keep myself looking this good,” Lance replied with a smirk.  
  
“Oh yea yea,” Pidge muttered.  
  
Lance walked out of the media room and almost slammed into Shiro.  
  
“You leaving already?” Shiro asked.  
  
“Yea, Hunk and Pidge teamed up on me. Had to leave with my pride in tact,” Lance joked.  
  
Shiro grinned.  
  
“We can tag team them!”  
  
Lance couldn’t help but smile at the offer. He looked back into the room- back to Keith- and shook his head.  
  
“Thanks Shiro, but I’m kinda tired,”  
  
Immediately Shiro shifted in overprotective mode.  
  
“You ok?”  
  
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Lance assured.  
  
“Alright,”  
  
Shiro watched him walk off before he turned back to the media room. Something must’ve happened between Lance and Keith.  
  
“Shiro! Quit lingering!” Keith yelled.  
  
“Keith needs a partner!” Pidge added.  
  
“I could kick your asses singlehandedly!” Keith replied.  
  
Shiro smiled and walked into the room.  
  
A few quintants and one failed attempt to form Voltron later, Shiro found himself at his breaking point.  
  
“Shiro? What’s going on?” Lance asked as he walked into the room.  
  
Shiro noticed the way Lance looked at Keith.  
  
“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but it’s affecting how we work together as a team and it’s keeping us from forming Voltron,” Shiro said.  
  
“So you guys are going to talk it out,”  
  
Lance and Keith looked at each other and then back at Shiro, identical expressions of disbelief on their faces.  
  
“And you’re not leaving until you work out whatever’s going on,” Shiro said.  
  
“But-!”  
  
“Shiro!”  
  
Shiro shot them a look which effectively shut them up and walked out of the room, the door slid closed and locked with an audible click.  
  
“Look,” Lance sighed.  
  
“I know you hate me but Shiro’s right-”  
  
“I don’t hate you,” Keith protested, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.  
  
“What? Of course you do! Why else would you…?” Lance fell silent rather suddenly, his gaze dropped to the floor.  
  
“Why else would I what?” Keith pressed.  
  
“Get an alien to take away your feelings for me?” Lance’s voice was soft.  
  
“What?”  
  
Lance dragged his eyes up to meet Keith’s. He was crying. Lance was crying.  
  
“I heard you and the Vathindian,”  
  
Keith felt cold and clammy. This wasn’t right. He wasn’t supposed to know about that.  
  
“What did you hear?” Keith asked.  
  
“Just that it gave you back the emotions you had for me,”  
  
“That’s it? L- Lance you have to let me explain,” Keith said.  
  
“Why?” Lance asked a little petulantly.  
  
“You don’t know what really happened, please!”  
  
Lance crossed his arms over his chest, trying-and failing- to look angry.  
  
“I asked the Vathindian to take away my feelings for you, I admit that, but it wasn’t because I hate you,” Keith said.  
  
“I did it because I’m in love with you,”  
  
“You’re… what?”  
  
“I didn’t know what to do… I couldn’t handle it and the Vathindian offered me a wish. I made a mistake! I wished that I didn’t have any feelings for you. I wasn’t thinking… I just thought of you and how I felt and I didn’t know what to do about it so I made a stupid wish,” Keith said in a rush.  
  
Keith was trembling, he knew he was.  
  
“We saved Vathinda over a month ago,” Lance said.  
  
“Why did it take you so long to go back?”  
  
“I didn’t realize how bad the indifference was until you got hurt. I knew I had to go back and beg the Vathindian to undo the wish, I just had to wait till we got close enough to the planet before I went back to it,” Keith explained.  
  
They stared at each other for a moment.  
  
“Keith-”  
  
“I know you don’t feel the same, and that’s fine, I just didn’t want you think I hated you,”  
  
“You got an alien to take your feelings for me away, mullet-brain, what was I supposed to think?”  
  
Instinctively Keith ran his hand over his hair, a small smile quirking on his lips.  
  
“Are we good then?” Keith asked.  
  
“No, actually,” Lace said.  
  
“No?”  
  
“You can’t just drop a bomb like that and then assume everything’s going to be fine,” Lance protested.  
  
“You don’t feel the same, it’s fine, I get it, I won’t let my feelings get in the way,” Keith said around a lump in his throat.  
  
Lance looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet.  
  
“I never said that,” he said quietly.  
  
“You… what?” Keith asked.  
  
Lance glanced up at him, his cheeks tinged a little pink.  
  
“I never said I didn’t feel the same way,”  
  
Keith shifted on his feet. His eyebrows pinched together and a small frown formed on his mouth.  
  
“What?” he asked again.  
  
“God is that thing you call hair interfering with your hearing?”  
  
“You love me?” Keith asked, ignoring the jibe at his hair.  
  
Lance turned red and dragged his hands down his face.  
  
“I never said _that_ ,”  
  
“Lance!”  
  
“Yes! Ok? Yes! I love you!” Lance said.  
  
“I love you,” he said again, much more quietly than the first.  
  
“I’m in love with you,”  
  
They stared at each other for a few moments. Lance was still beet red and Keith couldn’t stop smiling. The boy he was in love with loved him back.  
  
“Well, are you going to ask me on a date or what?” Lance asked.  
  
Before Keith could say a thing alarms started to blare. They both instinctively tensed.  
  
“You two better have worked things out!” Shiro yelled as he walked into the room.  
  
Lance looked back at Keith and smiled.  
  
“We’re good,”  
  
“Good. It’s time to form Voltron!”

**Author's Note:**

> come find me @ a different blog aka  
> [here](http://www.starsdustlance.tumblr.com/)  
> I have been listening to Don't Take the Money from Bleachers all day so that's where the title & chapter titles are from  
> part 2 has more Lance


End file.
